Free Republic

Pope Francis said Wednesday that fear of migration is “making us crazy” as he began a trip to Central America amid a standoff over President Donald Trump’s promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and a new caravan of migrants heading north. Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall Wednesday on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind. Francis responded: “It is the fear that makes us crazy.” The Roman Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope and the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis has made...

Pope Francis encouraged hundreds of thousands of young people at a global gathering of the faithful Sunday to "believe in a new humanity" that is stronger than evil and refuses to see borders as barriers. His appeal came at the end of World Youth Day, a weeklong event being held in southern Poland this year that draws young Catholics from around the world every two to three years for a spiritual pep rally. The youth gathering was Francis' main focus during his pilgrimage to Poland, but over five days in this deeply Catholic nation he also prayed at the former...

World Youth Day, a weeklong gathering of Catholic young people, has begun in Krakow, Poland. The festivities will continue until July 31. Pope Francis will arrive in Poland on Wednesday and will celebrate Mass with the pilgrims on Saturday and Sunday. Pope Francis will also make a visit to Auschwitz while he is in Poland. Krakow was announced as the 2016 host city at the conclusion of 2013's World Youth Day in Rio. World Youth Day's next dates and location will be announced at the end of Sunday's Mass. Attendance at past World Youth Days has ranged from 400,000 to...

Arrived last night in Berlin for first stop of World Youth Day Tour. I'm with about 150 attendees from Los Angeles Diocese that includes many smaller groups of teens, young adults and chaperones. Also includes four priests and a really great nun that has been to every WYD. Attended Mass this morning then toured Reischstag, Brandenburg Gate, Olympic Stadium and CheckPoint Charlie. Excellent learning experience for the teens and young adults. We will also be visiting Potsdam, Dresden, Prague and Auschwitz before getting into Krakow for start of formal WYD events. The Diocese wanted the youth to experience some history...

Pope Francis reached out to gays on Monday, saying he wouldn't judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip... "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis asked. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis was much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten. Francis' remarks came Monday during a plane journey back to...

BACKGROUND by Dangus: The Brazilian constitution guarantees the right to life, starting from conception. However, the Brazilian Supreme Court has ruled that such protection applies only to those babies destined to be born. Therefore, it has allowed the destruction of frozen embryos and anencephaletic babies, which it claims cannot be born, anyway. The court did this in defiance of opinion polls which show 80% of Brazilians oppose the liberalization of abortion. The court's strategy is clear: chip away at the notion of personhood, to move that majority towards the death camp. Senators, including chief allies of the President, have introduced...

NEW YORK New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a guest Tuesday on "CBS This Morning" to discuss the pope's impromptu news conference on a papal flight the previous day, stressed that Pope Francis "would be the first to say, 'My job isn't to change church teaching; my job is to present it as clearly as possible.' " Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was asked to comment in particular on the pope's remark: "If a person is gay, seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge? They should not be marginalized. They are our brothers."...

The Imminent Abortion Legalization in Brazil: the Pope Has Spoken… That It Was Not Necessary to Speak! By Julio Severo The international media has been in frenzy about pope’s statements on homosexuality. Usually, when Christians speak about homosexual issues, the media do not forgive: the barrage of attacks is endless. I have been a victim of such attacks, and I have written many articles defending (Catholic and Protestant) Christians under such attacks. In the pope’s case, there were no attacks. Apparently, some of his words were misrepresented. But, overall, he was celebrated by the international press. I will not...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’ comments on homosexuality during a press conference on the papal plane back from World Youth Day in Rio were largely misreported by the mainstream press, according to a Vatican official and a Church expert. During a surprise and wide-ranging in-flight press conference Sunday that lasted 80 minutes, Pope Francis reportedly said: “If someone is gay, and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge? We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society.” “The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well,” the Holy Father went...

It's hardly surprising that the world, especially Roman Catholics like myself, is breathlessly decoding what Pope Francis told reporters on his flight back to Rome from Brazil on Monday regarding homosexuality: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” The Pope’s remarks... hardly represent a break with Catholic church doctrine, which still condemns homosexuality. The Vatican’s catechismal stance regarding the LGBTs in our midst remains the same: The church may love the sinner, but it hates the sin. And since Francis was referring specifically to gay priests—who like other...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met with the leadership of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, CELAM, which is holding its general coordinating meeting this week. The meeting was one of two appointments expressly desired by the Holy Father outside the context of World Youth Day, during his week-long visit to Rio for the World Youth Day celebrations. The first was a visit to the Marian shrine at Aparecida. It was in Aparecida in 2007 that the CELAM bishops held their 5th General Conference, which produced a major three-part document outlining a plan for assessment of...

Facundo Antonio Sebastian Tolaba walked across South America to attend World Youth Day. Credit: Estefania Aguirre / CNA. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 27, 2013 / 04:43 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A teen who crossed South America in hopes of meeting Pope Francis walked by foot because he had no money – and now he wants to return by foot “to thank those who helped him.” “I met poor people that offer you everything and rich people that don’t offer you anything,” Facundo Antonio Sebastian Tolaba said. “Since they helped me, I want to help them now.” “I want to return...

Father Z Equates Catholic Bishops at WYD 2013 with Nazis UPDATED July 27, 2013 By Sam Rocha 31 Comments Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, also known (and hereafter referred to) as “Fr. Z,” will surely dispute the claim of this headline, however, this post will show that the proposition “Father Z equates Catholic Bishops at WYD 2013 with Nazis” is true, by examining the words used by Fr. Z in today’s post at his web log, “Your Excellencies? REALLY?!?”Fr. Z’s post begins with the YouTube video (below) of a large group of Catholic Bishops, dressed in ecclesial attire, rehearsing hand movements to an upbeat religious...

Address of Pope Francis at the 28th World Youth Day Prayer Vigil on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, July 27, 2013 Dear Young Friends,We have just recalled the story of Saint Francis of Assisi. In front of the crucifix he heard the voice of Jesus saying to him: “Francis, go, rebuild my house.” The young Francis responded readily and generously to the Lord’s call to rebuild his house. But which house? Slowly but surely, Francis came to realize that it was not a question of repairing a stone building, but about doing his part for the life of the Church....

Pope Francis joined over a million young people on Copacabana beach Saturday evening, for a prayer vigil on the eve of the final Mass marking World Youth Day, 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The centerpiece of the vigil was a Eucharistic procession. The event featured litanies and hymns, as well as the testimonies of four different young people. In his remarks to the youthful pilgrims, Pope Francis focused on the image of the field of faith – the name of the venue at which the vigil was originally to have taken place, before the week’s inclement weather rendered it...

Pope Francis had a joyful but challenging message for the Bishops of Brazil today. As part of World Youth Day festivities, the Holy Father took the opportunity to meet with the world’s largest episcopate. Pope Francis thanked the Bishops for allowing him to speak as “one among friends”. For that reason, he said, he spoke in his native Spanish, in order “to better express what I carry in my heart.” Pope Francis spoke first about the miracle of Aparecida, the miracle at the heart of Brazil’s religious history. “Aparecida offers us a perennial teaching about God and about the Church.”...

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but the crowds at World Youth Day (WYD) in Rio are much larger than the mainstream media predictions. Just last week we were hearing that WYD might be a disappointment. Early registrations were lagging behind expectations. The Brazilian government didn’t want to kick in extra funding. Lots of young Brazilians disagreed with the Pope. Those gloomy predictions didn’t even take into account the spectacularly bad weather that has turned outdoor meeting places into bleak acres of ankle-deep mud. Doom! Disaster! But wait. When the curtain rose on WYD, there were 500,000 enthusiastic...

Gay rights and feminist groups are planning to stage protests during Pope Francis' stay in Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day. The pope has already been subjected to a homosexual "kiss-in" along the papal motorcade route on Monday when he arrived in Rio. Video clips from the protest on July 22 showed lip-locked demonstrators, some of them topless, while others waved rainbow flags, according to a U.S.News report. Various media reports say that a gay rights group is planning another "beijaco" or kiss-in during a speech Pope Francis will give on Copacabana beach on July 25. The group is...

Many Catholics hope Pope Francis will strengthen laymen and women in church, who have been taking on responsibilities of priests in some rural areas. That might trigger a revolution, experts say. The Catholic Church in Latin America has a way of dealing with contradictions: Instead of discussing whether women should be allowed to be ordained to the priesthood or debating the celibate, laymen go ahead and create precedents in their religious communities. They've come up with new forms of church services - services without a priest. Hopes are high during this year's World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro that...

World Youth Day organizers and the United Nations are partnering to sponsor a morning of debates about the role of youth in sustainable development and peace. The event "Youth and the culture of peace" will take place on July 23rd. There will be participation on behalf of Ahmad Alhendawi, the UN Secretary-General's special envoy, and a moment for presentations by five youth representatives, from the five continents. About 650 youths are expected to attend. The event will take place at the Brazilian Bar Association building (Edifício OAB), where consulates of the international delegations will have offices during the WYD Rio2013....